Feb 11, 201912:50PM

The circular logic you'll find on this dildo-holster's page is bizarre. Disagree with her, you're a Nazi. Argue that you're only disagreeing with a point, that proves you're a Nazi.

Actual fact: She's the Nazi.

This circulated a while back.

I ignored it at the time. That's because, for years I made a point of not criticizing other authors. However, few of them returned the favor, so fuck it.

Dear Catherrynne or Catheryyyne or Caaatheryin, or whatever cutesy spelling it is:

First, you're wrong. The earliest modern SF was largely written by techno-savvy men, who either had little time for women, or didn't really deal with many women in their technical jobs at the time (1920s-1930s). See The Lensman series. Almost all the stories from this era are tech-driven, capitalist-endorsing, adventure stories of manly men doing manly things.

Then we get into the 1940s and 1950s, where there's some social construct in some of the stories, by technocrats, who, as a very liberal friend describes them, were "poorly socialized sliderule geeks" who wanted to reduce people to numbers. Asimov later addressed this brilliantly in the Foundation series, which made the case that people as a group can be analyzed as a group and certain trends predicted and accounted for, despite individual variances. The Technocrats took this to an idiotic extreme where individuals could be made mathematical parts of the socialist ideal with no dissent or repercussion. Look up the Technocratic Party platform. It's hilarious. It's also complete incel garbage.

So that brings us to the late 1950s, and 1960s, where some of the then-liberals did in fact join in SF, and did in fact produce a great many worthy works. But they weren't "progressive." First because there's nothing actually "progressive" about your self-styled movement. The base economic model is simply neofeudalism with everyone assigned productivity by the Planning Committee instead of the Lord of the Manor. But semantics aside, even using the "progressive" moniker, they weren't. They were actual liberals. You know, the ones who tolerated differences of opinion, supported the rights of dissenters, and generally got along well with people.

So that's not "always has been" progressive. In fact, the "progressive" cockholsters came along in the 1990s, made the liberals uncomfortable, scared the conservatives, and made the libertarians eyeroll. Even the actual socialists recognized them for what they are politically: The actual fucking Nazis in the equation.

There's your burned book Catheryyyin. You didn't even wait to fucking pretend to read it. It's gone. It didn't even fit your strawman definition of conservative. It was liberal. But, it wasn't "progressive." After all, you can't have children imagining a world without hatred. There goes your entire racist business model. It wasn't stopped by the conservatives, who just don't read what they don't like. Nor the libertarians. Nor the actual socialists. It was your kind. The book burning Nazis. Just like the Parents' Music Resource Center started by Tipper Gore. It's ALWAYS Nazis claiming to be liberals who want to restrict speech and publication.

As to "always will be" [progressive], that depends on how long the readers are willing to put up with it. I'm sure the Nazis are enjoying it. You're preaching to them. Real people though, tend not to read those books. It's not that they're not reading. They're just not reading those books. You sit there with your mutual masturbation society of awards, while hundreds of authors don't even waste time with SFWA or conventions, and you like to pretend they don't exist, while they rake in money. Nor are they all conservative. Quite a few are on the very (actual) liberal end of things.

And it's easy to spot the rest of the Nazis, because they're throwing out their catchphrase of "I wouldn't feel safe with this person at a convention!" which correctly translates as either, "I'm a pathetic little bitch and want to preserve my echo chamber!" or "I'd start a fight with this person for the satisfaction of blaming them, but I'm afraid they might actually kick my scrawny, virtue-signaling ass if I did."

Then on more than one occasion, your group has publicly stated that a Latino author (different Latino authors) make you feel uncomfortable, and denied them access to your events. So as far as the racism goes, it's a documented fact. But, hey, at Worldcon a couple of years back, you DID let a gay man and a black woman hand out the awards to the white people--after you harassed, harangued, terrified, threatened, strawmanned and voted against Hispanics, Jews and even an actual socialist or two. I guess that's your definition of "progressive"?

Oh, as to your Point #2, that's called "DragonCon," it's 15 times the size of the jokingly self-styled "WorldCon," makes no distinction between politics and beliefs of authors and their relevance to attend, and boots out Nazi assholes who masturbate about "Well, not everyone gets a voice in a fair society." Because in a fair society everyone DOES get a voice. I actually like it when Nazi bigots self-identify, so they can be called out and I can not waste time reading their literary dribble.

Great going with the virtue signal though, babe. You definitely told US.

Jan 24, 201911:31AM

I always start these by noting that I didn't vote for Trump, and I don't like Trump. He's been lackluster. Like the guy before him, he's done a couple of things I support, several I'm ambivalent about, and a bunch that are very disturbing in their unwarranted expansion of Executive power.

And it's really hard to make that point when self-proclaimed "liberals" are shitting their pants in tantrums daily, for over two years now, about bullshit like Russian birth certificates and mythical impeachments that will never happen.

The latest as everyone knows is some kids at the Right to Life March wearing MAGA hats. Now, any cursory read of this blog will show I support unrestricted access to abortion. I also support the right of people to peacefully protest. So they have the fucking right to peacefully protest. Yeah, I disagree with them. That's the point. Protest is so people are aware you exist, and possibly listen to your point, and possibly take it into consideration.

Into this protest, which has been held every year since 1974, comes Nathan Philips, who claims to be a tribal elder, but as far as I can tell, two major regional nations have disavowed all association with him, so I guess he's Chief Smokablunt of the Stoner Confederation. (He's not hard to find, begging around Ypsilanti. Several people have pics and have reported this.) He also claims to have been a marine veteran of "The Vietnam Times" which doesn't seem to refer to www.VietnamTimes.info, but seems to be a deceitful way of admitting he never actually went to Vietnam but wants people to think he did. Though at least twice he HAS claimed to be a Vietnam veteran, and to have been "spit on" when he came back. BTW, the spitting on of vets DID happen...once or twice. Because even pathetic hippies have other things to do than wait around at airports where eventually there was security to get rid of them. But when a vetflake wants attention, damn betcha they're one of the ones that got spit on. Of course, it would have been other "liberals" doing the spitting, not conservatives.

Oh, yes--a quick study of his DD-214 and understanding of the culture shows that he was told by a judge to go in the military or to jail. He couldn't possibly qualify for the AF or Navy. The Army just might barely have sent him to Vietnam, but the Marines had already withdrawn and Reserve duty just barely met the judge's order. Of course, he screwed that up by getting arrested for drunk and disorderly and jailed. He also claims to have been a "recon ranger," which doesn't exist in the Marines, and in fact, he was trained as a Basic Electrician. He missed drill by being in jail, during a time when that mattered, and either due to that or being homeless got put on active duty, where he went AWOL several times, attempted to fix air conditioning equipment badly, and finally got booted ETS. (THIS, BTW is your "Dodging the draft" in the Reserves, not volunteering to fly an aircraft meant for one-way intercepts of Soviet bombers, or actual bombing runs over North Vietnam.)

IOW, he's a worthless sack of shit and trying to milk the vet and Indian angles for a buck, like every other homeless failure you'll ever meet. At least he does meet them by token, I'll concede. But he pathologically lies about them. So knowing that, anything he says should be looked at in the context of a scam to score some weed.

He's a Retcon Ranger. His story changes every time it's convenient for a quarter or a bag of weed.

And if you're some white liberal self-loathing snowflake in a quiver about "Raaaaaacism!" you should be aware my Choctaw and Cherokee wife has far worse to say, and criticizing an individual is not criticizing a group, even though you're mentally incapable of grasping that due to the socialist fallacy. (Those are fancy words that mean your culture is retarded.)

Anyway, Chief Homeless Pothead walked into the middle of their peaceful presence, and started banging the drum really loudly, which confused them. So they smiled, hoping the homeless lunatic would decide they were uninteresting and leave.

Whereupon they got accused of "smirk rape" or whatever else liberal faggots fabricate to be offended by when they have a need to be offended (which is always). So ol' Nathan popped a massive attention boner, went on to tell the tabloid media how he was trying to prevent two groups who were both doing nothing physical from attacking each other.

But then, The Liberal Butthurt Attention Brigade dialed the faggotry up to 11 and insisted the kids were being violent with those smiles, had attacked the Indians, had attacked the black racists behind them (who admitted afterward to being black racists and saying racist things while claiming to be "Israelites," because they believe Jews are fake Israelites, and Israelites were really blacks from West Africa they're descended from. I can't make this up) and somehow conjured up some Jews to be present, who weren't, and claimed the kids were chanting "Build the Wall" and "much worse things." None of which happened, but if you expect CNN to be more reliable than the Weekly World News you're a fucking retard and should be institutionalized and not allowed to vote.

Let us note that the Black Israelite group actually manned up and said it was all bullshit, they were the racists, no one mentioned a wall, and the kids were peaceful. Oh, yes, and there's video to support all this, but "liberals" won't watch it because (and some faggot actually said this), "It's gaslighting, because you're trying to persuade me I didn't see what I actually saw," when in fact it shows what you saw, and the CONTEXT to it.

Also, if you think "build the wall" is so horrible you piss your panties, you're just a fucking genetic failure and should probably kill yourself.

So then Twitter got involved. Now let's start with the fact that everyone on Twitter has an IQ under 85 and should likewise be institutionalized. But the retardation isn't the issue here. The issue is that "tolerant" "liberals" started literally offering blowjobs, record albums, and cash, for anyone who'd punch, beat the shit out of, shoot or otherwise murder, including feed into a logchipper (That's _MY_ schtick as World Dictator, fuckers), these TEENAGE BOYS for the crime of SMILING AT SOME HOMELESS, SCAMMING PIECE OF SHIT.

Here's my concern. Not only were none of them arrested for communicating actual incitements to violence, Twitter actually started blocking people complaining about this.

You know why these people fear the myth of a Trump Death Camp™? Because they know they belong in one. They also know that's their ultimate goal to do to others.

Now let's be clear. This isn't all liberals. It's at most 95% of liberals. But the other 5% don't actually call them out on it.

Eventually, one of these incidents is going to cause the virtue signaling to reach a point where they frenzy like sharks, and rather than just playing in traffic, beating on cars, setting shit on fire, faking "racist" attacks against minorities, they're actually going to escalate to killing children.

At that point, I fully expect someone is going to respond in kind. It's going to be someone who knows how to engage in violence. And they're going to, in the words of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, "Keep Heaven filled with fresh souls." At which point, Liberaldom is going to squawk and start trashing civilization, and a bunch of you are going to be stuck in the middle.

Now, I do not advocate violence, and I cannot pre-judge the circumstances and responses. But you may be put in a position where you have to kill. And being civilized, this possibility probably scares and offends you. This is normal. The worry about killing another human being is one of the hallmarks of civilization.

It's not, however, one that "liberals" seem concerned about. They already cheer harassment, violence, vandalism, arson. It's only a short step to cheering murder. Their only enjoyment comes from destroying civilization and all it stands for.

When you find yourself wondering how much force is necessary, if it's all a misunderstanding and you just have to explain what was meant, realize it's probably worthless and get ready to run or fight.

"The 11-year-old boy who changed his last name from "Trump" after he was bullied at school was recognized over the weekend by an anti-bullying organization for his courage."

Joshua, who lives in Clayton, Delaware, began going by his father's last name, rather than his mother's, due to the relentless bullying he experienced after President Donald Trump began campaigning in the 2016 presidential election."

"The bullying got so bad the school district agreed to change Joshua's name in the system when he began at Talley Middle School in the fall, WPVI reported."

""This little boy has been victim to relentless bullying simply over his last name that is associated with our 45th President of the United States," the organization wrote on Facebook after the ceremony. "Glad we cold [sic] bring a smile back to his wonderful face.""

~~~
You harassed him over his NAME to the point where he wasn't safe.

You rewarded him for GIVING IN to your vile behavior.

You told him it took "courage" to give in to your cowardly attacks.

"Tolerant" "liberals", you are DISGUSTING, SUBHUMAN NAZIS, and at some point you will be dealt with the same way the original Nazis were.

And I will fucking cheer.

FOOTNOTE:

And I don't want to hear any "We don't endorse that, but!" because the "But" is that you DO fucking endorse it. You've destroyed statues, edited literature, and acted EXACTLY like the Taliban and the Nazis and similar filth. And there's no excuse of, "Well, that's only some of us."

Because if you continue to belong to a group that acts like this, you ENDORSE it. It's like the "non-violent" members of the Mafia who don't break legs, only run the numbers. No, they're still fucking Mafioso, and you are still fucking Nazis.

Right now I'm sure some pathetic piece of shit is wailing on Twitter that, "I wouldn't feel SAFE with this person at a convention!"

NO ONE feels safe around YOU. Because you are a vile, disgusting mob of subhuman Nazi shit. YOU have committed the violence, the harassment, the lies, the fake victimhood "attacks," the erasure of history, the false narratives.

Everything you claim non-liberals are (because you call all of us "right wingers" regardless of our particular philosophies, because we're "not aryan"), is a projection of your own worthlessness and inhumanity.

Dec 20, 201812:05AM

EDIT:
Apparently, some readers are failing to read for content and ad homineming that I'm a "Sensationalist right winger."

I'm an immigrant. I'm a 25 year veteran of the US military. I supported marriage equality and gays in the military as far back as the mid 1980s. (I was a minor before that.) I'm an active supporter of the trans community with references to prove it. I'm pro-free speech, pro-reproductive choice. I'm anti-big government. I'm non-religious.

That's actually the EXACT OPPOSITE of a right winger.

Also, I own several real submachine guns and stuff that feeds ammo from belts. So I have zero interest or need for an inferior bumpfire stock.

Now, please read for content and actually think.

~~~

Some people think they love it. Some people hate it. Some people think it's just a bit of political maneuvering.

First, notice the statement is from Jeff Sessions. Now, if you believe (as all rational people do) that pretty much everything that man did was a disaster, you shouldn't be deluded into thinking this was magically better than anything else he did in his crusade to eliminate pain killers, pot and everything except actual criminals.

I draw your attention to the phrase and the claim that a bumpfire stock, "Harnesses the recoil energy."

It does nothing of the kind. Put a firearm equipped with a bumpfire stock in a block on a bench, pull the trigger, it will fire a single shot only. One. Then it will do nothing. There is no "Harnessed energy." An ACTUAL machine gun will continue to fire until you release or run out of ammo. The bumpfire stock-equipped rifle will, again, fire one. single. shot. And stop.

An earlier device with a spring (The Akins Accelerator) was in fact ruled to be a machine gun, by ATF, who ruled that removing the spring made it not a machine gun. There was much outcry from the users that their $1000 (!) accessory was no longer usable. But I wrote about that elsewhere. It's also referenced in the letter above, and the two are conflated, because Sessions is either stupid or evil or both.

The bumpfire stock is a stock. If you are experienced and well trained, it is possible with CERTAIN weapons to slightly increase the rate at which you pull the trigger, by shoving with the other hand while pulling the trigger. If you're a guitarist, think of a hammer-pull combination. It's not something a noob does to any good effect.

Sessions' description is literally as inaccurate as saying "Alcohol is a narcotic."

The second claim is that, just like a machine gun, it allows firing multiple rounds with a single function of the trigger. This is also provably false. Again: Place it on a bench, pull the trigger, it fires one shot. The trigger must be released before it can shoot again.

This cannot possibly be defined as a "machine gun" that fires more than one shot per pull of the trigger. Yet, that is what Sessions has done, via a false statement--a lie.

The manufacture of machine guns has been illegal since 1986. Real ones command a high price. The finding of the Firearm Technology Branch was not only that these devices were not machine guns, but that in fact, they are not even firearms.

Sessions has falsely declared it to be a machine gun, and therefore contraband ex post facto, with absolutely no compensation for the "contraband," in complete contradiction to the experts' findings.

ATFE estimates the device and related industry are worth $200 million, which is tiny in business terms. However, every owner, seller, maker has money invested that is being stolen from them. No due process. No legislative process.

This is an EX POST FACTO TAKING of private property via a false declaration. You should be afraid. You should be VERY VERY afraid.

Look above again. This decision is precedent for ANY Cabinet head to declare anything...or anyone, illegal, and subject to theft or imprisonment with no due process.

And worse, it was put in place by President Trump. If this stands, then President Trump has precedent to overrule any bureau, any law, just by instructing his cabinet to draft a false statement.

"Alcohol is a narcotic. Therefore, all alcoholic beverages are contraband and the selling of them is illegal. Shut all the liquor stores at the end of the month. No one gets compensated."

Didn't we walk that path already?

"Pot is a narcotic."

Oh, wait. The government already says pretty much that. Great idea to have more of it, eh?

"This house is a narcotic. Therefore, it is contraband and we will seize it. No compensation. Also, you're going to jail."

You thought asset forfeiture was bad before?

What about when the NEXT president takes office? What if President Mike Pence says, "All fetuses are people"? And then after talking to someone who knows what they're talking about says, "All embryos and blastocysts are, too."

What if President Bernie Sanders says, "All income belongs to the collective"?

I bet at least one of those gives you nightmares, right?

If the courts don't utterly destroy this "ruling" at once, it is very literally the end of the legislative authority. President Falwell will be able to order that, "Any non-Christian church is a political entity, not a religion."

Still think it's a great idea, or even a not-terrible idea?

~~

EDIT: and apparently a lot of so-called "liberals" do think it's a great idea, because "guns are bad m'kay?"

Due process? Separation of powers? Constitution? Hey, this is about guns!

Nov 30, 201808:22PM

A few months back I discreetly noted online I needed help for a military support project. This was it.

The issue was that such events require a sponsor. Thinkgeek was the previous sponsor before they got bought out. The convention needed a new sponsor.

The support agency in question prohibits soliciting sponsors. Now, I get not wanting your units begging for money for social events, but how can anyone support an event if they don't know about it? Apparently, they're supposed to read minds, volunteer to pay for events, then the event rolls, and the facility makes some money from the concessions (which are used to sponsor other events...just not events in the big hall. Don't ask, I don't get it either.)

I'd asked Jarrod (the host) if it was on again--I last went two years ago--and he explained the bureaucrapcy. I checked in every week, and nothing. He explained it all again. I nodded.

So right before DragonCon, I pinged him and asked how much he needed to run the event.

"It's not the money," he said. "It's the bureaucracy."

"Yes, yes, I get that, but how much?"

"At least $3000."

"That's all? I was afraid it was going to be $10-$15,000. But $3000? Pfft. I can get you $3000."

He had literally been about to push the button on the post announcing there was no SF convention this year. I told him to wait.

A bunch of sci fi nerds stationed or living in Germany can't have an SF con because some bureaucrat has regulations? Oh, hell no.

So I went online. "Guys, I need some help but I need to be discreet."

In two days I'd confirmed about $2500 from Baen Books, some indie authors (Mel Todd, Darryl Hadfield, Peter Grant https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/ , and partially pro/partially indie Kacey Ezell), www.vault-of-valhalla.com and some of my most awesome fans. Toni at Baen agreed to send a hundred books for me to sign and give away, and print promotional cards for the other authors, even those who don't write for them (Because Baen is amazingly cool like that), and cover my airfare. I talked to my publicist at Baen, Corinda, who used to also sing backup for Bruce Springsteen, and she drafted a letter using the precise language they needed, and emailed it to the precise person.

Who smelled a huge womp rat, but couldn't do anything except thank everyone for their sponsorship and tell Jarrod it was a go.

There was some shortage, some mismatch, a few hundred, but screw it, I can help keep this thing going.

This year, I got to the airport on Thursday, in plenty of time for my flight, which was delayed, delayed and cancelled, because JFK airport had snow and couldn't get its head out of its fourth point of contact.

Delta tried very hard, mostly, to fix this. They re-routed me through Atlanta, and even put me on standby for two earlier flights...both of which were swamped by other delayed passengers. Basically, everyone on the earlier flights got boned.

Then my scheduled flight was delayed. So I approached the desk to a woman named "Faty," who seemed to be a recent immigrant from Africa, with not great English skills. I explained my flight to Atlanta was going to make me miss my connection. She glanced at the ticket and said, "You reach Atlanta at 1115 pm. Next passenger please."

Yes. 1115...45 minutes AFTER my flight for Europe leaves.

I went to another desk. I explained the problem, and that I had flexible workarounds. I could fly into Amsterdam, or even Luxembourg, Brussels, or in emergency, Antwerp. My driver could make those work. From this end, I could even drive to Cincinnati or Louisville, if there was time.

He went looking, and called over the manager, Tia, who was busy putting out about 1000 other fires. She had me follow her to three different desks, very apologetically and working multiple issues, then determined she didn't have authority to change destination, and connected me to the toll free number.

The young man there was badly frazzled, and had trouble tracking all I said. But, said he couldn't get me anything Thursday, but for Friday he could get me to Luxembourg via Amsterdam by 11 am.

No, that's too late, but when does it reach Amsterdam?

0545.

Then let's just do that.

So, I was going to have to drive to South Bend, about 3 hours, park probably at a friend's house, fly to Detroit, then Amsterdam, then Luxembourg.

No, no, forget Luxembourg, once I get to Amsterdam I'm fine. But why can't I fly out of Indy?

No flights. And oh, the Amsterdam flight just booked.

I hung up, called Jess, told her the entire thing was a cancellation. I started walking out and realized I had luggage, so I headed for the quiet end of the terminal where the direct flight to Paris had just left...which would have let me get to Amsterdam on Friday.

I was still on the phone and asked the gentleman there how to retrieve my luggage, since I was cancelling. He started digging, and overheard me explain the schedule incompatibility to Jess.

He said, "Oh, I can get you to Amsterdam. Hold on. Yes...no....maybe...yes...yes...it's kinda like a dance here, some forward some back...yes...no...there we go. You leave here tomorrow at noon for Detroit, leave Detroit at 4 pm and Amsterdam at 0545 Saturday."

That would JUST leave 4 hours to drive to Spang and arrive before 1000.

And I wondered why the other guy couldn't find the IND departure. It seemed he'd managed to put a hold on an Amsterdam seat for me, then leave the screen and come back to find it blocked, then it aged off.

Either way, this last guy was a genius.

I left the luggage there, tagged to follow the flight, and went home. Nine hours and Didn't Even Leave The Airport.

Friday, Jess had to drop me off before work at 0830. Long, long before my flight.

By the way, IND has very polite, efficient security, and has since before TSA, and in fact as far back as 1990, the first time I flew out of there. They actually search things that need searched--boots, is that actually a watch, backpacks with weird items, and don't harass people over BS. I was through in under 10 minutes.

And waited.

Then my flight was delayed...but not enough to be a problem.

Got to Detroit, and my departure gate was only 3 gates down. Flight was on time. So I got some sushi from a place I last ate at in October 2005.

Not unexpected good news: with a healthy tailwind, we were to get in at 0515.

Long overnight flights suck. I'm tall, moderately broad in the shoulders, don't sleep well sitting up, and I'd already been up for the entire day.

Delta did good again. My bag was 5th on the belt after all that rigamarole. Well done, guys. Thanks.

My friend Werner is used to parking to meet me. He couldn't find Arrivals. He told me he was at Departures. I couldn't find that because the signage sucks. It's in English, but the arrows are not clear. We both had the same landmark, but couldn't get on the same level.

A local driver overheard me cussing into the phone, asked if he could help, took the phone, chattered to Werner in Dutch, and got me directed where I needed to go.

So the half hour slack got eaten up.

We tossed my luggage into his company car and started driving for Germany, which is no further from there than Chicago is from me--Europe is small.

Apparently he got a speeding ticket on the way. I'll help with that. Though we did have slack time. Netherlands roads are in excellent repair and the speed limit is 130 km in rural areas. It was Saturday morning, so we didn't have much traffic to worry about. The $8/gallon gas was irritating, but covered on his work account.

I ate a sandwich on the way, tried to sleep but couldn't. Listened to some of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International audiobook.

Then we got into Germany, who, taking a lead from Illinois, closes dozens of mile of highway lane and leaves the whole thing closed while they slllllowwwlllly get around to fixing it. And drop the speed limit to 70 km. So there went 6 minutes of our slack.

Spangdahlem AB is doing repairs to the main gate, so we had to drive 3 miles around to the rear gate, where they were supposed to have a list of off-post guests. They had me, and I have retired military ID anyway. They had to check Werner against the list, so they told us to pull to the side while they checked.

We called Jarrod (the event manager) and confirmed there was a list.

Two other cars joined us.

The SP kept waving other cars through. Nothing from the guy inside the shack.

A break in traffic. Still waiting.

Another spate of cars and another break.

At this point, it was after 10, the event was starting, I was the guest, and we were still waiting at the gate.

I got out and politely approached.

And the SP tells me, "Yes, we can't find him on the list so you'll have to turn around, drive all the way back to the main gate to pass and ID, get him cleared there, then drive back here."

I am a retired NCO. I became very polite. That may mean something to some of you.

First, they should have had a way to do Pass and ID at the gate, if the main one was closed for some duration.

First, if you knew this 10 minutes ago, why didn't you come over at the first break in traffic, or wave to us to come over, and explain it then?

First, since you know what the event is, and the list you DO have has a contact number, why didn't you call that?

I did state that I found it very unprofessional, and walked back to the car. We called Jarrod. He had an NCO from Security Forces with him at the event, who said he'd have it fixed momentarily, just as the gate SP came over whining about just trying to do his job (there's always that one guy, and he was wearing a fleece jacket with no name or rank, so I have no idea who he was, and definitely needed a shave, and didn't look like the kind of troop who needs a shaving waiver for health issues). We had the phone on speaker, he was instructed, he waved us through. We know the base and where the rec center is, we drove and parked.

OKAY, WE ARE AT THE CONVENTION! Holy crap, what a nightmare getting there.

While I was setting up at my table, the Mission Support Group commander was standing there personally to thank me, and the others on behalf, for making it possible.

Jarrod announced the convention was starting, introduced the other activities, including the German 501st Legion contingent, and then introduced me, and noted that Baen and I had made the event possible.

There were some very happy people.

Attendance was low again due to deployments, but those there were very enthusiastic. There was a little girl costumed as a most excellent Madhatter, and a pair as Ladybug and Cat Noir. Stormtroopers (And when I hear them speaking in German, there are just some obvious jokes that you DARE NOT TELL in Germany), steampunkers, movie trivia, gadgets, cartoons. Some local and retired military vendors with books, gadgets, hand-burned boxes, movie memorabilia. A pocket-sized, one day convention.

I did in fact sign and give away all 118 books to grateful readers.

The Force Support Squadron commander came over and thanked me personally.

The Wing Vice Commander came over and thanked me.

I get the impression everyone wanted this event to be a thing except some money-grubbing pencil pusher in a certain DoD support agency.

Jarrod advised us not to leave base until the end, because there could be more BS getting Werner back on, even though he was theoretically on the list, they had his passport on file, and he'd attended things like this a half dozen times before. So we ate at the cafe in MWR. It was okay, I guess. At this point I'd been awake 32 hours.

We had a 4 room apartment in Temp Lodging for the night, and I slept in two blocks of about 6 hours each. In between, no internet, which happens a lot, but in this case was because I had the modem turned off and was too loopy to notice.

Once up in the morning, we went to www.MomsPlace.de in the village of Spangdahlem for brunch. Yes, I had beer and pizza for breakfast. In Germany. Good beer, good pizza. Everything I've ever eaten there is good. The steak, the chicken, the pork, the venison, the dessert, the beer.

That little bundle of houses to the far right is Spangdahlem.

From there, back to the Netherlands. Rotterdam.

Werner was unfortunately widowed earlier this year. Kathy beat brain cancer two falls out of three. But cancer only has to win once. He and the twins are recovering amazingly well.

His father-in-law had the twins, who seemed to remember me. Michael said hi and kept to himself. Gabriel told me all about his legos and Star Wars and figures. In Dutch. He speaks a bare handful of English at 5 years old, about as much as I speak of Dutch. But both are low Germanic languages, and with context, it's possible to figure out the discussion or a TV show.

Werner works at the port of Rotterdam, so he speaks his native Dutch, English for work, French, German, and bits of Italian and Spanish. I also speak bits of all these. Small bits. Enough to ask "Wo ist de toilet?" " Dov'è il cibo?" and, " Ik ben verdwaald," for example.

I didn't sleep well at his place. My clock was way off.

My plan had been to look at a couple of castles for research purposes. Unfortunately, they'd switched to weekend hours only on Nov 1, with no long term schedule on their site. (This is common in Europe. Old castles/cathedrals/structures are just old buildings. What's the big deal?) So that was off.

I'd planned to meet one of my German fans, Kristin, whom had become a fan after my first trip over for this, and had taken my card, looked up my books, found me on Facebook and not been terrified of my presentation. Unfortunately, she was off, her husband was working, and she didn't want to drag two small kids four hours. Yeah, these things happen.

I did see the aquarium at the Strand in Den Haag. It's a nice aquarium. I did learn a few things. I think E17 was a bit much to pay for what I saw. They did have good cocoa, though. At 5 more Euros. The place is expensive.

I did see a Dutch gun store. The owner had a couple of beautiful antiques. I asked, and he said pics were okay, but he wasn't going to take them out of the case. I showed him an image of my revolver collection, and he seemed to think it was a challenge and claimed to have more.

Actually, no, he didn't. And my point was to share the awesomeness, not play one up.

Given the laws there, it doesn't say "GUN STORE" anywhere. It does say, "Airsoft shooting," and such. And they have a live range inside. The entrance is around back, you have to be buzzed in. The prices are high by our standards, and the selection limited. Apparently, until 1990 you could have quite a few guns, and owners were officially militia, expected to perform rear echelon guard duties if needed, which is reasonable. Now it's 5 guns for target shooting, or 6 for hunting, but you can't use the same guns for each. Only one shooting club is official and the gov't makes the rules around those, so for IPSC equivalent, you have to RENT pump shotguns from dealers, who can have them, even though they don't allow them for other target shooting or hunting. Which is both bizarre and stupid.

Antique, disabled guns can be displayed. Airsoft have to be kept out of sight and locked up, and can't be used where anyone could see them and get scared. It's rather sad.

Werner and I went across the street from his place for Argentine steak. It was a decent steak. I don't think it was a E55 steak, even with the mushrooms, dessert and water. (There's no free water at restaurants in most of Europe. It's all bottled and you pay for it.)

I slept reasonably well Monday night, then was nearly nauseous by the time I landed in Detroit, 4 pm my time, 10 pm Europe, and no way to sleep properly.

Then Indy then home, with no issues.

The important thing was that the German-stationed troops got their SF convention and had a good time. We'll start planning now for the next one, though I may give some other guest the honor of attending so I can rest.

Nov 28, 201812:10PM

I'm seven years older than my sister. In between us, when I was five, my mother had an ectopic pregnancy. Ultrasound wasn't common back then, if it even existed--1971ish. The first we knew was my mother waking up late at night screaming in obvious agony, pause for a few moments, scream again. I heard a door slam, then movement, then the door again. I think I remember my father coming through to tell me things were okay and something about a doctor.

When I woke up, our neighbor Mrs Seton was in the house, told me my mother was in the hospital, made sure I got fed, kept me occupied--it was school break. I remember my father coming home, and cooking breakfast the next morning, but he didn't say more than three words. I remember liking his breakfast better than my mother's, and feeling a bit guilty. Then he was gone again. This lasted several days.

Then my mother came home and had daily visits from the nurse.

So, what had happened was the ectopic pregnancy burst the fallopian tube, destroyed an ovary, and left her dead on the table for almost four minutes before being revived. Part of it was some cultural legal BS at the time that the doctor wouldn't do what he had to without the husband's permission. Part of it was they didn't know what it was and didn't want to start cutting until they did.

Then they screwed up and used non-dissolving sutures internally, leading to abcesses, hence the home nurse visits. On the one hand, the NHS made those visits possible. On the other hand, their screwup made them necessary. This wasn't our first run-in with the incompetence of state-run medicine, either, but that's for elsewhere.

Jumping forward, on Thanksgiving Day this year my wife started complaining of some pressure and pain on her left side, lots of discomfort, and feared a possible miscarriage. She arranged a blood test for Friday morning, which showed things mostly normal. "Mostly."

The following Tuesday was previously scheduled ultrasound appointment.

And of course, the universe has to kick things around.

Our four year old daughter woke up gagging and threw up, mostly bile. She was fine until she got on the bus for preschool, then threw up again, then again at school. So we had to pick her up and take her with us to the appointment.

The clinic and doctor are absolutely first rate. They obviously didn't want a four year old, especially sick, in the clinic area, so the clinic manager herself came out to watch her in the waiting room, since they knew Jess needed me along for support.

The senior tech did the probing, and the doctor was present himself. I knew that wasn't a good sign, after three previous kids.

And yes, that fuzzy sonar image looked wrong. Too small, too stringy.

The doctor was very gentle and diplomatic, but the end result was that it was an ectopic pregnancy, and at 7 weeks along had to be terminated NOW, before I got to see the other side of a woman screaming in agony as her body rips chunks of itself apart.

The process is chemical:

Methotrexate and vaginal misoprostol. Methotrexate (Otrexup, Rasuvo, others) is rarely used for elective, unwanted pregnancies, although it's still used for pregnancies outside of the uterus (ectopic pregnancies). This type of medical abortion must be done within seven weeks of the first day of your last period, and it can take up to a month for methotrexate to complete the abortion. Methotrexate is given as a shot or vaginally and the misoprostol is later used at home.

~~~

Get that? The medical treatment for an ectopic pregnancy that might kill the mother is a chemically induced abortion. It's not "because she's lazy" or "because she couldn't keep her legs together." It's because she might die.

So, in the currently civilized US, the discussion was basically,

Doctor: "We have to do this. Very sorry."

Mother: "This is terrible, but yes."

Doctor: "Come in first thing tomorrow and we'll get the procedure started."

~~~

Now, in quite a few countries with more restrictive laws than the US--much of Europe, some of South America, Canada before abortion was legalized in the late 1980s--the process is much the same, except the doctor has to file an official note as to what and why.

And in quite a few other nations, they have to wait for the screaming agony, and then do more tests, and then surgical work, and a lot of women die.

This related case is a textbook example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Savita_Halappanavar

THAT is what happens in nations where they obsess over "The life of the unborn." The mother is legally an incubator with no rights.

And as I've referenced here before http://www.michaelzwilliamson.com/blog/index.php?itemid=433 we live in a nation where the Dept of Education has a fucking SWAT TEAM to collect on arrears student loans. So I'm not taking a bet that if a law here said that "only if the mother's life is in danger," there'd be too few, or too procedural, or too assholish of bureaucrats, and we'd have to wait for my wife to scream in agony and start hemorrhaging before anything was done.

This is one of many reasons I support absolutely unlimited abortion access, discussed between doctor and patient (and pretty much no doctor will perform the largely mythical just-before-birth abortion unless the mother really IS going to die, because doing so is very dangerous and worse than delivery, if delivery is an option at all, and there's no fucking time to have a bureaucrat sign papers).

Because today a late stage embryo, barely a fetus, dies before any brain to speak of exists, and my very much alive little girl will still have a mother, and my very much alive wife will stay that way, and have a lot of emotional anguish, because we really wanted another child and we're both reaching age limits.

And not to put too fine a point on it, it's also one of the many reasons I support the 2nd Amendment, because if it comes down to my wife's life vs dead bureaucrats and politicians, you get one guess how I vote.

Nov 01, 201801:04PM

I'm an immigrant, and I'm an anarcho-capitalist, so even most Libertarians are too statist for me, and I'm rather outside of American socio-political groups.

But you know what I'd like to see?

Just once, I'd like a "liberal" to explain what Trump has actually done to hurt them.

It goes like this:

Me: Trump's made some bad choices, like Sessions, but on the whole, he's been no worse than anyone else. What are you so bent out of shape about your need to riot or endorse rioting?

Liberal: RUSSIAN COLLUSION!

Me: No evidence exists of that. Mueller's spent two years and found nothing. All the leaks were from Hillary's end. What has Trump done to hurt you?

Liberal: RACIST IMMIGRATION POLICIES!

Me: 0bama had a higher deportation rate than Trump. And you're not an illegal immigrant. What has he done to hurt you?

Liberal: VOTER SUPPRESSION!

Me: Those are state level laws, and have near unanimous SCOTUS endorsement, therefore they're Constitutional. They started under 0bama. What has Trump done to hurt you?

NPC: NAZI!

Me: He's the first president to recognize Israel's capital, has 14 Jewish cabinet heads, a Jewish daughter and son in law, and Jewish grandkids. He is not any kind of socialist. Therefore, he cannot possibly be a Nazi, and has done nothing remotely resembling what the Nazis did. WHAT HAS HE DONE TO HURT YOU?

NPC: HE'S DESTROYING THE GOVERNMENT!

Me: He's cut back red tape that meant more generic prescription medications became available, cheaper, and your pharmacist is allowed to tell you about those options. Even Sessions is backing off on opposing state level "medical marijuana" statutes.

This is the same government you claim is murdering minorities, and has a SWAT team to collect on arrears student loans.

It's the same government that was trying to demand CDLs for taxi drivers and couriers, threatening your precious gig economy. How has him reducing its scope hurt you?

NPC: BOOOOOOOSH!

Me: You got off script there, dumbass.

NPC: RRRAAAAAACCIIIISSST!

Me: Against whom?

NPC: MUSLIM BAN!

Me: The list of 6 nations with restricted immigration does not include the 6 most populous Muslim nations. It does not include 210 nations Muslims live in. It does not allow anyone--even atheists and Christians--from those 6 nations to enter the US, without additional scrutiny on a case by case basis. It's based on the fact those 6 nations cannot even confirm their own passports are real. SCOTUS upheld the authority unanimously. Muslims enter this nation every day, and live here unmolested, even when they make vile anti-semitic comments and file civil cases to be allowed to butcher their female children's genitalia. And you're not Muslim. Name a single thing Trump has done to hurt you.

NPC: MIGRANT CONVOY!

Me: It's in Mexico. Further, as you admit, they're migrants, not "refugees" under the definition created by your precious UN. Therefore, they can't even reasonably ask for asylum, and Mexico is under no obligation to take them. Nor are we. Nor is Canada. By the way, BOTH of those nations have stricter laws of entry than the US. Under what strange logical chain are Central American migrants in Mexico a Trump issue, unless and until they get here, where they will be treated according to the same established laws 0bama treated them according to? WHAT THE FUCK HAS TRUMP ACTUALLY DONE TO HURT YOU?

NPC: RESISSSSSSST!

Comments below. Can a single one of you Demorrhoid NPCs name a single thing Donald Trump has done that hurts you?

(This early referenced "George W. Trump" as a satirical reference to that senile hag Pelosi, who can't seem to remember what his name is.)

And I'm honestly surprised to find liberals aren't aware of the facts above, since they're inherently better educated and more rational than conservatives. At least, according to liberals.

But it's not really a surprise that the terrorist arm of the DNC, which is all of it, is lined up to suck his rigor mortis cock.

Meanwhile, no memory of our ambassador being raped and murdered with the ridiculous claim that a massive, multi-national uprising spontaneously took place over a shitty youtube video...which claim doesn't credit Muslims with much intellect or self control.

The Demorrhoids were elitist white supremacists when they started the US Civil War to keep their slaves, and they're elitist white supremacists now, with anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic traits to boot.

Some asshole is claiming that the GOP is "begging for something to wipe this off the front page," when the fact is that Demorrhoid NPCs are the only reason it's on the front page, hoping against hope it will make a point difference at the polls in three weeks.

Oct 10, 201810:15PM

Apparently, some group or other has put together a blacklist for some reason unknown to some event unknown of people involved with Comicsgate, and I'm on the list.

I'm flattered. Seriously. Most authors have a fan club. I actually have a hate club, who spend a lot of mental capital hating me, instead of finding something else to do. So in actuality, they're a fan club composed of passive-aggressive failures. But hey, it's still attention. So this is either an expansion of the hate club or a SECOND hate club! That's pretty fucking cool.

I guess I'd be more flattered if I knew what "Comicsgate" is, and what association I have with it. I mean, I can mostly guess whether a superhero is Marvel or DC from the movie ads I occasionally see on Fecesbook. I'm aware there are stores that sell comics. I'm aware there are collectible comics. I know who the Justice League are from kid's TV. I know the guy who builds the officially licensed Batmobiles.

That's about it.

I don't read comics, write comics, write about comics, collect comics or notice comics. So it's a bit of a surprise to find out I apparently have a political opinion about comics that is unpopular enough and visible enough to get me pre-banned from something or other comic related, which I'm still not aware of any details about.

As far as attending whatever event this is, the rules would be the same as for any other event. There's Category A, which are a handful of cons I pay to go to, and have since the 1980s, when I have the time, to hang out with friends and do nothing, though I'm happy to sign books if people ask me to. Then there's Section 2, which means you're either letting me show up as a vendor, and have a market I can derive income from thereby, or you're paying my gas/airfare, hotel and per diem, to cover the loss of professional writing time I'm losing for those 3-5 days. As the famous advice says, "Fuck You, Pay Me."

Oh, and there's Division c: DragonCon, which I pay to attend as guest and vendor because it's a huge fucking orgy of profit, Scotch tasting, cosplaying, paneling, and evenings with my wife and our girlfriend.

So banning me from whatever you think you're banning me from is about like telling me I'm not welcome at the Live Agenda Studies Poetry Night at the Local Liberal Arts College Coffee Shop In Seattle. (I live in Indiana.)

Bitch, I'll be fine.

One favor, though, please: Let me know ahead of time that you're blacklisting me so I can share it, because that's marketing fucking gold to the people who are actually capable of, and actually do, read my BOOKS. Not comics.

Not that I have anything against comics, you understand. I just don't move in that circle.